description

Object description

51st (Highland) Division units resting in the Touffreville sector of the Orne bridgehead.

Full description

Men serving with the 5/7th Battalion Gordon Highlanders' 'C' Company are seen in position in the Touffréville sector of the Orne bridgehead, resting in slit-trenches, cleaning weapons, smoking cigarettes and drinking mugs of tea; a signals lieutenant repairs (?) a No 38 wireless. A six man patrol scours part of the Bois de Bavent for snipers. A Bren gunner keeps watch on the German lines. While some men can get on with the business of keeping themselves clean and getting a good rest, others are seen here having to remain on the alert for German infiltrators. A Universal Carrier bringing up ammunition 'brews-up' after being hit by machine gun fire. Members of a patrol examine the corpse of a 346th Wehrmacht Infantry Division soldier they shot dead together with his documents and other personal effects found in his clothing; note one of the Gordon Highlanders is armed with a captured MP 40 sub-machine gun.

Over two million American servicemen passed through Britain during the Second World War. In 1944, at the height of activity, up to half a million were based there with the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF). Their job was to man and maintain the vast fleets of aircraft needed to attack German cities and industry.